RECENT POSTS:
Summer 2008 Visit to friends and to witness the current situation in the West Bank.
OLDER POSTS:
Summer 2007 Film workshops in Palestine.
Video workshops for refugee youth ages to tell their own stories through film in 10 day workshops.
LAST YEAR'S POSTS (Summer 2006) Visiting Occupied Palestine

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Across the West Bank - Settlements Everywhere

An Israeli watchtower overlooks the small Palestinian village of Haares

Trash from Israeli settlers accumulates into a new mountain near a Palestinian village

On the hill you can see a light brown colored line that looks like a road - in fact that is the wall's furthest point, 12 miles into the West Bank. It is built here to encompass a large Israeli settlement called Ariel. More on settlements later...

On the hilltop is the Jewish-only settlement of Ariel (remember, this is apartheid). Below is the Palestinian village of Marda. Their trees have been burned, trash spills down the hillside from the settlement, etc., etc. They endure regular visits from the Army, who come and throw sound bombs and teargas at random, usually accusing the children of the village of throwing stones at the settlers' cars. Meanwhile, the people of Ariel enjoy a lifestyle comparable to American suburbia, in relatively spacious, state subsidized homes, and with plenty of water stolen from their Palestinian neighbors.